![can gay men donate blood in california can gay men donate blood in california](http://cdn-webimages.wimages.net/055154189026877899ed22adef96bffb39a26d-v5-wm.jpg)
That lifetime ban was lifted in 2015, provided the donor had been celibate a year.īut the pandemic has forced the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of blood drives, often hosted by schools or businesses, and by last spring, supplies had dwindled to critically low levels. “But someone who's just as sexually active but not a man having sex with men can walk into any blood bank in America and give blood,” said Garrett-Pate.ĭuring the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, the FDA determined it was too dangerous for sexually active gay and bisexual men to donate blood or plasma. They have to wait three months after a sexual encounter before donating blood or plasma. That’s not always possible for gay men who are sexually active. The FDA has authorized the use of plasma for hospital patients only under these conditions, so the ideal time to donate is soon after someone recovers from COVID-19, because that’s when their antibody levels are highest. Pandey says early results from clinical trials show that donated plasma from people who have battled COVID-19, a therapy known as convalescent plasma, is beneficial for other sick patients if it’s rich in antibodies and infused early in the course of the disease, when patients are experiencing mild symptoms. "Plasma is essentially an important component of your blood to carry other stuff like antibodies through your body.” Suchi Pandey, chief medical officer for Stanford Blood Center. Garrett-Pate's blood plasma, yellowish fluid filled with COVID-19 antibodies - tiny proteins designed to ward off future infections -is "liquid gold,” said Dr. And yet simply because I am gay, I can’t do anything with it.” “I potentially have something in me that could at least help someone recover,” he said. Garrett-Pate wished he could go to a blood bank to donate the enriched plasma coursing through his body. Just as his energy was returning, Southern California was inundated with new, often fatal cases.